Knock on wood? Not only the song title of the famous song by Eddie Floyd which was frequently covered, for example by David Bowie and Amii Stewart ... Knock on wood, it also allows to avoid "tempting fate" or destiny. It's also well know that many professional cyclists have some kind of ritual around a cycling race and Andreas Klier's idea thus seems quite interesting ... Indeed, the German rider of the Garmin-Barracuda team has invented a new product, MyKnoaky, which allows to knock on wood at any time!
Let's discover what it's all about in this interview we did at the start of the 6th stage of Paris-Nice in Suze-la-Rousse!
The birth of MyKnoaky
After a short flashback on his Paris-Nice so far, I asked Andreas Klier to present the MyKnoaky product.
Since 7 years now, Amaury Sport Organisation allows, together with its sponsors which are different from one year to another, some adolescents to experience the Tour de France as a journalist. Their newspaper, A notre Tour, is handed out to the followers of the Tour every two days.
The operation is more international than ever before since it now allows not only French people (4 of the 6 Jeunes Reporters) but also a young Belgian journalist and a future journalist from Luxembourg to participate*.
The Jeunes Reporters du Tour 2012
The operation Les Jeunes Reporters du Tour is one of the three operations for young fans set up by Amaury Sport Organisation around the Tour de France, next to La P'tite Boucle Nesquik and Les Cadets Juniors.
In the past few days, you might have seen some information about a potential co-sponsoring of the FDJ team by the biggest French independant negociator of building materials, BigMat. This would be good news for the French team which has been looking for a co-sponsor since 2 years now, but so far nothing has been officially confirmed yet ...
Let's see where we are in this potential co-sponsoring!
On Wednesday, CyclingNews.com briefly mentioned, by saying "Cyclingnews understands that a deal between FDJ and Big Mat could have legs, but as yet nothing has been announced", that after having abandoned a possible co-sponsoring of the Garmin-Cervélo, BigMat would be working on sponsoring the FDJ team which has been present in the pro peloton since 15 seasons (since its creation in 1997) with Française des Jeux as its sole spons ...
Update on 19 October at 10.30AM with the final information
Now the the race course of the Tour de France 2012 has become publicly available, there's not much left to guess based on the rumours ... ecept of course the information which interests many amateur cyclists: the two Etapes du Tour Mondovélo of the Tour de France 2012!!
As you'll see, this is not about simply changing one digit in a year which is part of the address of a page on the official Etape du Tour website.
There'll indeed be 2 Etapes du Tour Mondovélo 2012!
This year (in 2011) for the first time, there was not one but two Etapes du Tour Mondovélo. ASO's idea was to answer the ever growing demand for part ...> Read the whole story | 31 comments | shown 35421x
After the announcement that Rabobank will take over the Nederland Bloeit team last week, today came the news that the HTC-Highroad's women's team will continue as Team Specialized lululemon with a new management structure.
When the news came a few months ago that the HTC-Highroad team was to disappear, Bob Stapleton, the manager of Highroad, indicated he would try to do his best to let the women's team continue. That has been confirmed today, no longer managed by Highroad but still with Highroad as one of it's sponsors ...
The main sponsors however are Specialized Bicycle Company and lululemon athletica.
Specialized Bicycle Company
Specialized will provide the team with the brand new Specialized Amira 2012 (after having already used the 2011 make for the HTC-Highroad team), but also the S-Works S ...> Read the whole story | no comments | shown 7324x
The rumours had it since a few days already, the Dutch bank confirmed it at the end of this afternoon: Rabobank adds a a women's team as it's fourth cycling team.
In 2012 it will be the 16th year that Rabobank sponsors a cycling team. Indeed, in 1996 the Rabobank pro team started. Also present as a sponsor of the Dutch federation KNWU, of the U23 team Rabobank Continental Team and since 2010 also as the sponsor of an off road team (cyclo cross and mountain bike) which is called Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team, Rabobank has always very well taken up the role of a responsible sponsor of Dutch cycling*.
Indeed, the goal has always been to allow Dutch cycling to progress globally in both branches (road and "offroad"). This will again be the case, from 2012, in wo ...
In this article, you'll get the unique opportunity to win a one day VIP trip to the Tour de France 2011 by simply answering some questions! Follow the guide to win an unforgettable day in the Tour!
The one day VIP trip www.velowire.com allows you to win in collaboration with ...
You might have dreamt of it since you were a kid ... spend an unforgettable day among the big names of cycling in the Tour de France. Get access to the Village Départ, to one of the VIP areas on the finish line in order to see the stage finish up close, or even fly over the race in an helicopter to see the race from another side. All that, and even more, becomes possible thanks to Custom Getaways.
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This afternoon, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and Le Coq Sportif officially announced that the French brand will be back on the shoulders of the riders of the Tour de France from 2012. Indeed, from the 99th edition, the small French rooster will be on all leader's jerseys of the different classifications of the Tour de France and all other cycling races organised by A.S.O. (like for example Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, the Critérium du Dauphiné, etc.).
Le Coq Sportif makes it's comeback
At the occasion of the 130th anniversary, Le Coq Sportif will make it's comeback on the shoulders of the b ...> Read the whole story | 2 comments | shown 7462x
Unfortunately this article is not available in English. You can read it below in French. The game on www.velowire.com is open to any EU inhabitants.
Dans le cadre du Tour de France 2011, St Michel, fournisseur officiel du Tour de France, organise un grand jeu concours avec à la clé 10 places VIP sur le Tour de France !
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Vous n'avez pas de chance au grand jeu St Michel ? Venez retenter votre chance ici avec le jeu concours que vous trouverez en fin de cet article !